Enemies From Within
by Dark Sault
Summary: Everytime an enemy is defeated, part of their essence is released into Equestria as a puff of clouds to aimlessly wander the land. Until three essences collide together, forming...a human? As this human must learn to control his powers, Tirek rises to power and sets out to find him. Everypony tries to protect the human from Tirek, but who's going to protect him from himself?


**Hello Everybody and welcome to my new story, Enemies From Within! I've been dying to write this story since September, but never found a way around to get ot it until now. I sincerely hope you like it as I am so confident in this story that I have a squel and maybe a trilogy all planned for this story. (I know, I know, already planning ahead even though I just started this story.) Anyway, just to let you know that this story picks up right after 'Equestria Games'. Thank you again and hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own MLP: FiM, all rights go to Lauran Faust and the Hasbro Studio

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><p>We are all taught that when an enemy is truly defeated, their threat ceases to exist.<p>

But that's not the case.

What everypony doesn't know is that when the enemy is taken care of, part of his or her essence is released into the atmosphere as a cloud to aimlessly and harmlessly roam this land. Usually, these essence clouds avoid populated areas, but when they do sail through a town or city, they are usually considered a prank from Cloudsdale or an accidental cloud that was missed by the Weather Patrol.

Normally, these essence clouds never cross paths. Sometimes two or more essence clouds come at least a foot away from each other, but not really intersecting each other. Its been this way for centuries, well that was the case until three very specific essence cloud accidently do the unimaginable.

The three essence clouds; one midnight blue, one golden, and one pure black sail silently and quickly into a forest opposite from each other as they pass through trees and bushes, only causing a small piece to die off the of the tree or bush but nothing more. Well, that is until they come close to each other and collide.

Lightning started to produce from the collision before it started to uncontrollably lash out at everything in sight as a mass started to develop within the middle of the collision. The mass grew bigger with each passing second, it started to take on a form. The mass seemed to take a form of a human boy, no older than thirteen-years-old.

The human was wearing a black pull-over hoodie with no lettering or graphics, blue jeans, a necklace with an amulet written in ancient Equestrian, black and white shoes with red shoelaces. His brownish hair was shaggy and always covered his eyes. The essence clouds started to swirl around and enter into the human's body through the nose and mouth, like something was pulling them into the body.

As soon as the last of the essence entered the human's body, the body started descending down towards the charred ground. When the body touched the ground, no vital movements came from the body as it laid perfectly still like it was in a deep slumber.

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><p>Hours has passed since the collision of the essence clouds and the human boy still seemed to not move a muscle, not even the movements of breathing. Nothing has seemed to disturb the human from its deep slumber as the creatures of the forest have kept their distance away from the scene, not daring to get any closer to the human in fear they'll catch some sort of disease from it.<p>

Another hour goes by before a pack of Timberwolves settle down near where the human was laying as one of the Timberwolf ventures outward towards the human's location. Once the Timberwolf caught sight of the human body, it tread closer to the human. The Timberwolf sniffed the foot of the human, not sure if it was prey or alley.

Suddenly, the human let out a small groan, making the Timberwolf jump back in surprise before it gained its composure back and let out a deep growl. More groans escaped from the human's lips as he slightly moved his head side to side, like he was having a bad dream or something. The Timberwolf let out more growls before moving up to the human's head, coming face-to-face with its prey.

The Timberwolf continued to growl as the human continued to groan and moan before the human opened up his sea-green eyes. As soon as the Timberwolf looked into the human's eyes, the Timberwolf whimpered. Before the human could react to what he was seeing, the Timberwolf took off away from the human with its wooden tail between its legs.

The Timberwolf let out a howl, alerting the others as they started to sense something as well before they whimpered and took off too. Even though Timberwolves are known for being fearsome creatures, they sensed something dark and unsettling about that human boy that made them cower in fear.

The human was pretty stunned at what he just saw there. _Whoa, what were those things?_ he asked himself, _they looked... awfully familiar_, The human boy tried to rack through his brain to see if he would remember ever seeing the Timberwolves, but nothing came to him before a more important question came to him. _Where am I?_

He looked around his surroundings to see nothing he recognized as many questions began to swirl through his brain. _What is this place? How did I get here? Why did those things look familiar to me? Who am I?_ That last question seemed to spike the human's interest more than the other questions as he began to think of who he was. But just like last time, nothing came to him.

_Maybe if I walk around and get my bearings down, maybe it'll jog my memory or I might run into somebody that knows me_, the human suggested to himself before he started rising to his feet, but he fell back down on his face. The human tried getting up several more times before finally accomplishing it as a new problem came to him; walking.

The human boy took one step forward before collapsing back to the ground. It took him several more tried before his legs eventually were strong enough to barely walk. The human stumbled around the forest as he looked around in hopes of remembering something, but still nothing came to him.

_Where could I be?_ the human questioned as he looked around one more time before he slumped to the ground, his throat as dry as sandpaper like he hasn't drunken anything in days.

_So...Thirsty..._ the human thought to himself before he looked around for any water source around him, but sadly there were none. Before the human could worry about finding a water source, he started to hear something like rushing water. Without a second thought, the human rose back to his feet and stumbled towards the sound of rushing water.

As soon as the human made it to the source of the sound, he found a crystal clear river right in front of him and beyond that, a flat plain. "Ugh, water." the human rasped out before falling to his knees and dunking his whole head into the icy cold river, but he didn't seem to care. Taking large quantities of water, the human kept his head underwater until his thirst was quenched before bringing his head back up for a satisfied sigh.

"Much better." the human said before looking up at the nearby mountains to find a surprising sight. On the side of one of the mountains was a castle. But the longer the human stared at it, the more familiar the castle looked to him. _Weird, that castle looks familiar. Maybe, just maybe, that castle holds the answers to my questions_, the human thought before he slowly rose to his feet and started making his way to the castle.

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><p>The sun was just above the horizon by the time the human boy made it to where the castle was located. The first thing he saw was a train pulling into a tunnel near the main entrance of what looked like a city in front of the castle. The human looked up at the main entrance to catch a glimpse of huge lettering above the door to the city. "Canterlot?" the human read as he continued to study the wording.<p>

The human looked up at the castle that is beyond the city before he let out a sigh and silently entered into the tunnel where the train entered through before hiding behind a wall. The human didn't understand why he had to hide himself, but it just felt the right thing to do before he looked around the corner to see another surprising sight.

Instead of seeing beings just like him, he saw unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies rushing in and out of the train, dressed in different attire or nothing at all as there were six or seven other ponies dressed in golden armor patrolling the train station. "What are these things?" the human whispered to himself before looking over the train station one more time.

As the guards patrolled the station, the human began to recognize the routes of the guard's patrol before he finally decided its time to get outta there undetected. Once the station was clear of ponies and the two guards closest to the human reached the edge of the platform, the human threw over his hood and took a few more breaths before he silently counted to himself.

As soon as the human silently counted to ten, he rounded the corner and kept to the shadows just as the two guards turned around and began walking back. The human quickly got up onto the platform before silently sneaking past the other guards with not much as a noise before he quickly made his way up to a deserted street. Without sparing any more time, the human shot straight into the alley and kept close to the shadows.

It didn't take long for the human to make it to the castle gates, but upon approaching the castle, a wave a nausea washed over him. A pounding sensation raised within the human's head as he began to stumble towards the castle gates, no caring if he gets caught anymore. A group of seven guards were chattering happily amongst each other before they caught sight of the human and got their spears ready.

The group of guards cautiously advance toward the human boy who dropped to his knees in agonizing pain, wandering what kind of creature the human was. "Please, help me..." the human weakly pleaded out, making the guards jump back mostly because of not just that the human spoke, but that it pleaded for their help.

"What is that thing?" one of the guards asked confusedly.

"Is it a Changeling in disguise?" another guard asked.

"Is it a creature from the old legends or stories?"

"Could this be another test brought down by one of the princesses?"

The more the guards wandered, the less they knew what kind of situation they were under before the human spoke up again. "Please, I'm begging you, help me." the human pleaded before the guards pointed their spears towards the human again. "Shut up whatever you are, not another word until we figure out what's happening." one of the guards orders before the human began to shake violently.

"PLEASE! Help me! Why aren't any of you helping?" the human said a little angrily as an immense anger urge washed over him. The guards approached the human a little closer as they kept their weapons trained on him. "For the last time, shut up!" the guard in front of the human ordered right before the human stopped shaking and stayed perfectly still.

Before any of the guards could move a muscle, the human lashed out and grabbed the guard's spear that was in front of him. "You insignificant fools!" the human growled out as his voice sound a bit different now. The human rose his head up to reveal that his eyes were no longer sea-green, but they were scarlet irises with purple mist emanating from them. The guard shook in fear from the sight before darkness began to spread across the spear as three guards rush to the first guard's aid.

But no matter how hard they pulled, they couldn't yank the spear from the human's grasp. The darkness slowly started to infect the guard as well as the other three near him before they were completely overtaken by the darkness and they fell unconscious. The remaining guards watched in shock as the unconscious guards collapsed to the ground before they turned their attention back to the human.

"Take him out!" one of the guard shouted out before they all charged at one toward the human, but the human simply vanished in thin air before reappearing behind them all. The human's palm began to glow with Sombra's magical aura before he sent a ball of dark magic toward one of the guards, knocking that pony unconscious.

The remaining two guards whipped around to face the human again as they got their spears ready and charged. But before their spears could impale him, the human grabbed the spears with his bare hands and miraculously started lifting the guards into the air before he threw them over his head as they both slammed into the ground, knocking both of them unconscious.

The human stood still for a few more seconds before walking up to the unconscious guards and gently grazed his hand against their armor, making darkness appear and infect the guard. As soon as he was done, he stood in middle of the unconscious guards. "Rise up you dim-wits!" the human sneered out as the guards' eyes snapped open as the whites in their eyes are green and looked like they had no life in them, indicating that they are now under the human's control.

"Now you pathetic excuses for guards, escort me to the throne room. I think the princesses should know of my return." the human said with a sinister smile on his face as the hypnotized guards silently nodded and did as they were told by escorting the human into the castle and towards the throne room.

The inner guards were quick to realize a pack of hypnotized guards escorting a human through the halls but before they could spring into action, they were quickly put to sleep through Sombra's magic. As soon as the guards posted outside the throne room were taken care of, the guards pushed open the door and piled in as the human lastly entered the room.

Celestia and Luna looked up from what they were doing as their eyes widen at the scene in front of them. It wasn't so much as the controlled guards or that a human was standing in several feet from them, it was what they sensed coming from the human. "Sombra?" Luna blurted out as the human devilishly smiled back at Luna. "But how?"

The human continued to smile towards the princesses before he moved a little closer to them. "Is that all you can say to me for all the years I've been gone. Your next question should be what's going to happen next?" the human asked delightfully as Celestia and Luna rose to their hooves and their horns glowed in their aura.

But before the human can spring into action against the princesses, blood began to drip out of his nose. Sombra's eyes faded in and out of control before they diminished and reset back to their sea-green color before he collapsed, unconscious. In result, the hypnotized guards also collapsed to the ground unconscious as Sombra's magic was released from their bodies.

Celestia and Luna slowly approached the human boy with caution, not sure what to make of what just happened. "Sister, could that have really been Sombra?" Luna asked as Celestia turned to look at her younger sister. "It could be a possibility that Sombra's Dark Magic could have survived the Crystal Heart and traveled to the human world and infect a human and bring him back here, but..." Celestia said before moving her horn over the human's chest. "...I'm detecting two other energy forces. One of them is Discord's and the other one is... Nightmare Moon's."

Luna shivered.

Ever since she was redeemed back to her former self, she never thought she had to ever hear that name or deal with her darker self ever again. But is seemed that there is no escaping her evil half that easily. Celestia looked down at the human again to finally see a necklace around his neck before she used her magic to remove the necklace from the boy.

Celestia studied the necklace as it gave off a sense of familiarity, but she could tell why. Celestia then looked at the amulet as she looked at the ancient writing written all around it. She hasn't seen this kind of writing in centuries but if her memory serves her correctly, she knew what is said.

"Three souls, one body." Celestia read out confusedly before turning to her sister who looked as confused as she was. "What could that mean?" Luna asked as Celestia examined the necklace again to see if there was anything else, but that was it. "I'm not entirely sure, but I know somepony who might." Celestia said before she closed her eyes and concentrated her magic on summoning the pony who could help them out.

Within a flash of a light, a Draconequus appeared above the princesses, sitting in a chair with a stack of chips floating beside him and a deck of cards in his claw/paw. "For the last time Cherry Swirl, if your fed up with losing, why don't you just stop playing and stop wasting your time losing to me." the Draconequus said before he noticed he wasn't where he was suppose to be before he looked down at the princesses.

"Honestly Celestia, how am I suppose to enjoy my vacation if I'm just going to be summoned every five minutes and unexpectedly?" he said before snapping his claw and the chair, stack of chips disappeared from sight, but he kept the deck of cards. "Do you know anything about this Discord?" Celestia asked as she pointed a hoof at the unconscious human boy in front of her.

Discord took one look at the human boy before shaking his head. "I don't know nothing about this at all. Now, how about picking a card, any card." Discord said before flashing the cards in the princesses' face before Luna smacked the cards away from her, making the cards fly out of Discord's grasp and fly everywhere. "This is serious Discord! Celestia has detected your energy force from this human. So you better not be lying to us about not knowing." Luna growled out as her horn glowed fiercely.

With the snap of his fingers, the cards reappeared back in his paw as he began shuffling the cards around. "I would take credit for this if it was my idea, but sadly I didn't do it. So don't get all up in my case for something I didn't do. And besides, I'm reformed, remember?" Discord said with a sly smile. _Not all the way reformed_, Luna angrily thought to herself before containing her anger inside of her.

"Discord!" Celestia interrupted before letting out a sigh. "Please, we need your help. Your the only Draconequus I know who can Identify how ponies were able to obtain these kind of powers." Celestia pleaded as Discord crossed his arms and grumbled and mumbled to himself before he gave in.

"Alright, I'll help you. But I'll help if and only if somepony apologizes for wrongfully accusing me of all of this." Discord said as he batted his eyes toward Luna who widen her eyes in shock. "What? No! I'll do no such thing." Luna protested as Celestia gave her sister a pleading look. "Sister, please." Celestia pleaded as Luna looked back at her before she let out a sigh of defeat.

"Fine..." Luna growled out before turning to Discord and mumbling out, "I'm sorry." Discord frowned at the way Luna presented her apology to him. "Oh come on Luna, I know you can do way better than that. Now take it to the top. AND ACTION!" Discord yelled through a megaphone as he was suddenly wearing a plain shirt and plaid pants with a black hat that said 'Director' on it. Discord sat on a floating director's chair and a camera trained right on Luna.

Luna's body began to shake with anger as her horn glowed brightly. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" Luna yelled out before firing her magic at the camera, making it disintegrate. "Oh, poo." Discord said disappointingly as Luna got ready to fire another magic blast towards Discord but before she could, Celestia intervened.

"Luna!" Celestia cried out, making Luna turn to her sister and her anger subsisted, bowing her head in shame. "Well, that was something. Ok, I guess I'll take what I got and help you." Discord said before floating down to the human boy. He planted his claw onto the human's forehead and concentrated.

Suddenly, a tremendous shiver ran through Discord as he quickly pulled his claw away from the human. "Did you seeing anything?" Celestia asked, confused of why Discord withdrew his claw back from the human. "That was strange..." Discord mumbled to himself before he turned to Celestia and Luna. "There seems to be immense negative energy inside this boy, its preventing me from seeing anything. I have never felt something like this at all."

Celestia and Luna looked worriedly at each other, if this human can prevent Discord from getting in his head while unconscious, then what is he capable of when he's awake? "Okay Discord, thank you very much. You are excused." Celestia said as Discord smiled delightfully before nodding to Celestia. But before Discord left, he took one more look at the human. Discord felt something from the boy, something... familiar, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

With the snap of his fingers, Discord disappeared within a flash of light. Celestia and Luna looked down towards the human boy with confusion and fear. "What is he? Besides him being a human and all." Luna asked as Celestia shook her head.

"No, he's not human at all." Celestia said, looking down at the human with an unreadable expression. "We might not know what he is but when he awakes up, he'll give us the answers we need."

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><p>The human's eyes flutter open to see a white ceiling. Only turning his head, the human looked to his side to see that he was laying in a bed inside a strange bedroom. <em>H-How'd I get here?<em> the human asked as a unbearable and satisfying smell invaded his nose as drool began to flood within his mouth.

The human looked around to pinpoint where the delicious smell was coming from before his eyes set on a plate of steaming food on a nearby table. The human watched the steam roll off the food for a little bit before he couldn't stand it much longer and sat up and swiped the plate of food off the table and started stuffing his face, even though it tasted a little weird to him.

By the time the human got three-forth of the way done with the plate of food, there was a sudden voice from behind him. "Well, look who's finally up." The human turned whipped around to see Celestia and Luna standing near his bedside. The human continued to look at Celestia and Luna before he brought up enough courage to say something.

"W-who are you?" he asked as Celestia gave him a pleasant smile and spoke up. "My name is Celestia, the co-ruler of Equestria. And this here is my younger sister Luna. And who might you be?" Celestia then asked as the human looked down in disappointment. "I-I don't know who I am..." the human said sadly, looking away from the princesses.

Celestia let out a sigh and walked a bit closer to the bed. "So if you don't know your name, then what would you like us to call you?" Celestia asked in a soft tone and the human looked at her in confusion before he began thinking of a name for himself. "Riley." the human suddenly blurted out. "I would like to be called Riley."

Celestia politely smiled towards Riley as he tried to smile back, but just couldn't. "Riley, do you know what this thing is?" Celestia asked as she used her magic to levitate the necklace they found on him towards him. Riley looked down at where the necklace was suppose to be before grabbing it from Celestia's magical grip and examined it. "I'm sorry Celestia, but I don't know anything about this. All I know is that I woke up with." Riley said before putting on the necklace.

"Do you have any idea how you got here?" Celestia asked as Riley thought back of how he got here, but much of what he remembered now felt like a distant memory. "All I can recall was sneaking through the town to get here before I fell ill in front of the castle. I don't remember what happened after that." Riley said before turning to look at the princesses.

"Wait, you don't remember getting po-" Luna began to say before Celestia intervened. "After you passed out, my guards dragged you to me and I ordered them to take you here. You've been out for a while." Celestia said as Luna looked at her sister in confusion of why she wouldn't tell the truth, but before she could ask, Celestia continued. "Thank you for your cooperation, we'll talk more in the morning. In the meantime, you finish your meal and I prepared a bath for you, my guards will show you the way when your ready." Celestia said before guiding Luna out of the room before she could speak.

Once outside, Luna whipped around to face her sister in anger. "Why didn't you tell the human the truth?!" Luna hissed out as Celestia looked at her with pleading eyes. "Luna, please listen. If Riley would figure out what he could do, there is no telling what will become of him. It's best that doesn't find out until he has better control over what he possesses. Come Luna, we've got some research to do. Maybe Starswirl the Bearded has something on this kind of situation." Celestia said as she and Luna walked down the hall just as Riley was done with his plate of food.

Once Riley was ready, the guards escorted him to the Bath House. As soon as the doors were closed behind him, he undressed himself and slowly lowered himself into the hot water before he let out a relaxed sigh. Riley watched the steam dance around the room before looked down at the water disappointingly. Even though the castle felt familiar and he thought his questions would be answered, but it seemed that all it has done was bring more questions than answer.

Riley let out a depressed sigh before bring his hand in front of him and started clutching and unclutching his fist. _If I'm not like any of these beings, then what exactly am I?_


End file.
